CHICAGO – Four common bad habits combined — smoking, drinking too much, inactivity and poor diet — can age you by 12 years, sobering new research suggests.

The findings are from a study that tracked nearly 5,000 British adults for 20 years, and they highlight yet another reason to adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Overall, 314 people studied had all four unhealthy behaviors. Among them, 91 died during the study, or 29 percent. Among the 387 healthiest people with none of the four habits, only 32 died, or about 8 percent.

The risky behaviors were: smoking tobacco; downing more than three alcoholic drinks per day for men and more than two daily for women; getting less than two hours of physical activity per week; and eating fruits and vegetables fewer than three times daily.

These habits combined substantially increased the risk of death and made people who engaged in them seem 12 years older than people in the healthiest group, said lead researcher Elisabeth Kvaavik of the University of Oslo.

Do I really need a study to tell me that bad habits can make you age faster?

I can see with my own eyes what smoking, too much alcohol and a sedentary lifestyle can do to a person's appearance!

It is worse in women! I have friends who smoke, and boy, do they look older than their age - the wrinkles on their face, way to much for their age, and their grandmotherly voice because of the smoking.

But then again, even without these bad habits, if you happen to possess genes that make you look older than your real age, you really are out of luck!